This invention relates to a connector having a locking mechanism for locking a connected state between the connector and a mating object.
In order to connect a cable and a board such as a printed wiring board, use has been made of a board connector mounted to the board and a cable connector attached to the cable. By fitting these connectors to each other, an electrically connected state between the cable and the board is achieved.
For example, conventional connectors are disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication (JP-A) Nos. H6-208864 and 2003-297482, respectively. Each of the conventional connectors comprises a locking mechanism for locking the above-mentioned connected state and an unlocking mechanism for unlocking the locking mechanism. The unlocking mechanism is activated by manipulating an operating member called a pull tab.
Such a connector with the locking mechanism and the unlocking mechanism is inevitably increased in number of parts although it is designed to be reduced in outer dimension. Further, an operation of removing the connector is troublesome and a connector retaining force of the locking mechanism is insufficient.